Company put an illegal pay secrecy clause in the handbook — he photographed it, sent it to the Labor Board, and watched senior managers scramble

Reminding employees that they can be fired at any moment for any reason is a classic corporate scare tactic. However, one management team recently discovered that "at-will" does not mean they're above the law. It all began when a manager threatened to terminate employees for discussing their salaries, which he claimed violated the company's handbook. In response, one of the workers (u/massive_celery_3395) turned to Reddit to share how they turned the company's unruly law against the management. The post, shared on June 19, has received 8,000 upvotes online. 

Handbook rule backfires

The employee revealed that roughly two weeks after the initial warning, the management deployed a task force. Soon, one of the members of this task force told the employee, "It's in the handbook, no unauthorized conversations during work, and this includes pay." Of course, the employee didn't believe them at first and argued that even if true, this couldn't be a legal or ethical practice. 

That said, following this confrontation, the employee, who was already documenting everything for their safety, researched the company's handbook. And soon enough, to their surprise, they found the rule they were looking for that prohibited employees from discussing their pay. Nonetheless, as soon as the employee found that, they knew what to do. The person clicked a picture and sent it to the labor board. This was perhaps the best decision they made, as following this report, there was a massive fallout within the company.

Management faces fallout

Over the next few weeks, the manager who initially threatened the employees was completely lost. Meanwhile, the task force told employees that they could, in fact, talk about their pay and the handbook had been "revamped." More notices followed in the coming weeks. One of them stated that all breakrooms should have a poster of work rights. At the same time, several people in management were let go, and the company was even fined for all the chaos. 

Amid all of this, managers started being too nice to the employees and even became understanding about issues they previously ignored. But simultaneously, they also emphasized that employees should be careful about what they do or do not tell the labor board. Overall, the company was humbled by the labor board. 

Should pay be discussed openly

The entire exchange highlights the lack of transparency regarding compensation within the corporate world. Well, as it turns out, even though not all companies take such drastic measures, about 54% employees say that their companies discourage talking about their pay with their coworkers, according to a survey held by Bamboo HR. This comes despite 44% workers thinking that talking about compensation with their colleagues builds trust toward their employers. However, 53% feel discussing salaries with peers can promote jealousy, and 47% believe it may lead to increased gossip in the office. 

'Sounds undemocratic'

In the meantime, people in the comments section were absolutely baffled by the result this employee achieved. u/15woodse questioned, "I mean, it’s one thing for some idiot manager to say don’t talk about pay in the workplace, but you’re telling me management was so incompetent they didn’t have the labor posters up?" While u/captain_toenail wasn't fully convinced, as they noted, "That last sentence is a very thinly veiled threat, they intend to continue using at-will employment as a bludgeon and fire people for talking to the labour board while giving any other reason, keep documenting everything."

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